


In your head

by Narina



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2019 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Telepathy, short scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 02:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17634344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narina/pseuds/Narina
Summary: After using a heal staff he found, Brady and Noire seem to share a deeper bond than before.





	In your head

**Author's Note:**

> I'm late but at least I wrote something. Have fun.

She didn’t even feel the injury happen but as soon as there was a moment of pause during the battle, Noire saw the blood staining her clothes and felt the throb of the wound. She grabbed her talisman and her bow and hurried to get away from the Risen to heal up. A vulnerary had to do the job, at least until the fighting was over and a place for the night was secured. Then she could collapse.

“Hold up.”

She whirled around to face the speaker, whimpering as she did so. That wound hurt a lot more than she was willing to acknowledge, maybe more than anything her mother ever did. She was sixteen, she wasn’t ready to die. “Brady,” she managed. “I’m fine.”

“The hell you are. You’re bleeding all over and can’t even stand, sit down. You need a healer.”

“Who, you?” Still, she did as she was told. Mostly because standing caused her see brightly coloured spots in this air full of smoke and rot. 

“Hey, Ma taught me!” He shot a look over his shoulder an stepped closer. “And I found this staff. So hold still.”

Noire still wanted to protest – seriously, who used a staff they just found? – but she was too weak and needed to live for her friends. So she nodded and felt the sensation of healing magic wash over her. It wouldn’t get rid of the blood stains but it would at least close the wound and allow her to keep going. 

Only after the battle, once they had all camped down in an old underground room, did she start noticing changes. It was like hearing another’s voice, different from the memories of her parents and different from Grima’s everlasting threats. Noire found it soothing and she slept better than ever this night. 

~

Sometimes she wasn’t sure if agreeing to let Brady heal her had been the best idea. The telepathic link they now seemed to share was barely noticeable during battles, it served as a warning and a reassurance and Noire liked knowing he was alive. Other times he was obnoxious, telling her to stop the destruction she was causing in her weirder moods. 

With a curse, she stabbed one of the Risen with an arrow and retreated slowly. Lucina was still fighting on the front lines and Gerome still patrolled the air but most of their foes were gone and they had defended home for another day. Over the past two years, they had managed to clear more than just the basement, to make the space one they could live in. It still wasn’t enough, they barely survived and Lucina was absent these days, often talking to herself or unseen forces, often vanishing into the night without company. 

_What is your problem?_ Noire threw her bow into one corner as she returned and didn’t even bother looking at Brady. He was in the same room but that didn’t mean she had to acknowledge that. 

_You tend to get yourself in danger!_ His scoff was audible and she still didn’t turn around. The wall was interesting enough. All the burn marks and chips and basic repairs. Noire clenched her fists. _Do you have to prove something?_

“Do I have to prove something?” She whirled around and didn’t even need her talisman. “You are always trying to get stronger and you always hurt yourself in the process, you idiot.”

Brady just stared at her and she felt his confusion even though he tried to hide it. Stupid bond wasn’t even useful, they were still fighting over everything. “Are you worried?”

“Wha-…of course I’m worried, dumbass.” She didn’t even know how to properly respond, just slumped down onto her mattress and crossed her arms, letting the silence stretch between them.

“Sorry,” Brady finally said, running a hand through his hair. “I just … I worry. All the time. And I can’t even really fight, what good am I?”

“To patch us up.” Noire sighed, not yet willing to give up. “We all have our insecurities. And problems. And general fuck-ups because the world is ending. And … I like knowing you’re okay.”

“Aw.” She heard him move and then he sat down next to her. Resting her head on his shoulder was too easy, too familiar. “I don’t wanna fight,” he mumbled. 

“Yeah, well.” She didn’t say how much she enjoyed being this close. He probably knew, anyway, hiding her feelings through telepathy was not a skill she had mastered. “Let’s just watch out for each other.”

~

Brady wasn’t sure how he had ended up in a Mila shrine but here he was and there was no way for him to leave. The journey through time had weakened their link after they had finally figured out how to use it and now he felt lonely. He still got bits and pieces from Noire, knew that she was somewhere close to Regna Ferox and unreachable for him, stuck in Valm as he was. 

For weeks, maybe months, he spent his days healing the locals and helping them against bandits though he didn’t even have a tome. A hard smack with a staff scared away most fiends. Now, however, there were too many of them. Their weapons were too good, their resolve too strong. They wanted to plunder this shrine and Brady, holed in with the villagers, cried in relief when he saw blue hair, so familiar, so much like his own. 

He wiped the tears from his face, closed one hand around his Ma’s ring and kept going, just like he always had. Reuniting with his sister, with his mother and father – it was great and he felt how happy Noire was for him. He also felt how lonely she was and so he approached his father right after the battle. 

“We need to go to Regna Ferox,” he said, maybe not the best conversation starter. 

“We are in the middle of our campaign.”

“I know.” He closed his eyes. This timeline was different and they still had to safe it but he also had to safe Noire. “Just … maybe after? As soon as possible?”

There was the hint of a smile on Chrom’s face, a reassurance and a sign of hope. “We will.”

~

Their reunion was cut short by more fights and by family discussions but in the end, when they sat by the fire, they felt their connection stronger than ever. Telepathy was still weird and yet Brady didn’t want to live without Noire in his head ever again. They still needed to beat Grima and restore peace to this world but now that they had so many allies, they felt like they could achieve anything. And he would make sure to keep Noire away from her mother, just in case Tharja came up with more hexes to test.


End file.
